Feature Cat Drew announced as Design Council’s Chief Design Officer

You are here

Design Council is delighted to appoint Cat Drew as its new Chief Design Officer. Cat, who takes up the role on 1 July, is currently Director of Policy and Place at FutureGov, having previously worked as a Director at the service design agency Uscreates. She was one of the founding members of Policy Lab and has extensive senior level experience working in government.

The Chief Design Officer role is key to Design Council, providing leadership and strategic direction across the organisation’s programmes which encompass design and innovation across the social, public and private sectors.

A true advocate for the power of design, Cat is the co-presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Fix and a regular speaker at key national and international design events. She is well known in the sector for her TEDx talk on how to make government function better through data and design and an RSA keynote on systemic design.

Sarah Weir, Chief Executive of Design Council, said: “We are delighted to welcome Cat to Design Council. She brings with her a wealth of design expertise and experience, as well as exceptional leadership and communication skills. As part of our dynamic senior leadership team, Cat will play a critical role in helping to ensure our sustainability as well as growth, championing the vital role of design in creating better products, places and processes.”

Cat Drew said: “It is a real privilege to be joining Design Council, with its longstanding and well-deserved reputation for using design to solve some of the biggest challenges in society. I look forward to working with everyone at the charity, forging deep and lasting relationships with our many stakeholders, and making further connections between design and the public, private and social sectors to build on our valuable work of making life better by design.”

Notes to editors

Design Council’s purpose is to make life better by design. We are an independent charity and the government’s advisor on design. Our vision is a world where the role and value of design is recognised as a fundamental creator of value, enabling happier, healthier and safer lives for all. Through the power of design, we make better places, better products, better processes and better performance.

What happens when you bring 30 students together, living 5,976 miles apart, and ask them to...Back in October 2018, Joe McCullagh, Head of Design and Associate Dean at the Manchester School of Art, reached out to Design Council with a bold vision: he wanted to bring students from across the world together to form a global design studio and support them to develop ‘glocal’ design skills.Joe McCullagh, Head of Design and Associate Dean at the Manchester School of Art, reached out to Design Council with a bold vision.

Feature —
22/08/2019

V&A Innovate: Inspiring the next generation to become the designers of tomorrow We invited Helen Charman, Director of Learning & National Programmes at the V&A to tell us more about the launch of V&A Innovate, their school-based initiative that is seeking to inspire young people about the value of design skills to solve real world challenges and support teachers to...We invited Helen Charman, Director of Learning & National Programmes at the V&A to tell us more about the launch of V&A Innovate.

Feature —
20/08/2019

Catherine Horwill argues that housing planning needs people placed at the centreA fundamental re-think of how housing is planned, delivered and managed is needed. This should include innovation within the planning system, pursuing funding and financing alternatives and embracing the efficiencies of modern methods of construction.A fundamental re-think of how housing is planned, delivered and managed is needed.

Transform Ageing Programme Pack 2019Transform Ageing is a pioneering programme taking a community and design led approach to improve people’s experience of ageing.Transform Ageing is a pioneering programme taking a community and design led approach to improve people’s experience of ageing.

The Design Economy 2018 – Page/ParkPage\Park Architects is a renowned Glasgow based mid-sized architecture practice which has designed many iconic public buildings across Scotland. The firm is employee-owned and architects at all levels take an active role in the day-to-day running of the firm.A renowned Glasgow based mid-sized architecture practice which has designed many iconic public buildings across Scotland.